It was the night of the Fair.
Letty and Susan, on tiptoe with excitement and carefully carrying the
green leather bag between them, walked to the church behind Mrs. Spargo
and Miss Lamb, whose Blackbird Pie was all ready and waiting for
customers.
In the green pocketbook reposed the "five tens, one quarter, two fives,
and four pennies."
"See that star, Letty?" asked Susan, holding tight to Letty's arm as she
gazed up at the moon, half hidden in the clouds, and at a single star
that shone near by. "Let's wish on it."
"Star light, star bright,
First star I've seen to-night,
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have the wish I wish to-night"--
recited the two little girls in chorus.
There was silence for a moment, and then Susan whispered:
"What did you wish, Letty?"
"Will you tell me if I tell you?" was Letty's reply.
Susan nodded, and bent her ear invitingly to her friend's lips.
"I wished that we would have a good time at the Fair," whispered Letty.
"So did I!" cried Susan, opening her eyes wide. "So did I! Isn't it
strange that we always think of the same thing? We must be really truly
twins."
"We are," answered Letty with conviction. "I do wish you weren't going
home to-morrow. I wish you could stay here forever."
Here Mrs. Spargo and Miss Lamb turned in at the church gate, gayly
illumined to-night for the Fair by a colored lantern, and the "twins"
followed close on their heels down a narrow stone walk and through a
side door into the lecture-room of the church.
"This is the Sunday-School room," whispered Letty. "There is my seat
over in the corner. Oh, look, look! There is the Blackbird Pie."
And, sure enough, in the very corner where Letty sat every Sunday
morning in company with four other little girls and Miss Lamb, stood a
booth draped with scarlet curtains over which winged a gay flight of
blackbirds. And best of all, there was the Blackbird Pie in the midst,
so enticing with its profusion of strings, so mysterious with its hidden
treasure of "toys and small articles for five and ten cents," that Susan
and Letty made a bee-line in that direction determined to spend all
their wealth on that particular attraction.
"Give me your hats and coats, girls," said Mrs. Spargo. "And if I were
you, I would walk around the room first and see what there is for sale
before I spent my money here."
"Oh, just one pull, just one pull," clamored the little girls, gazing at
the fascinating Pie with eager eyes.
Mrs. Spargo laughed.
"Red strings are five cents, white ones are ten," said she. "Pull away!"
The green pocketbook was opened and the bankers peered inside just as if
they didn't already know the contents by heart.
"There are the two fives," said Letty who thought herself quite a
business woman. "Let us spend them now and get rid of them."
So, after studying the Pie from all angles, two red strings that seemed
especially desirable were chosen; and, grasping them firmly and shutting
their eyes, Susan and Letty each pulled on her own string and out came
two little parcels, neatly wrapped in scarlet paper.
"Look, look!" called Susan, poking a small plaid box, that held four
colored pencils, in Letty's face.
"See mine, see mine!" answered Letty, returning the compliment by
thrusting under Susan's nose a tiny doll's pocketbook, just big enough
to hold a cent.
"I like mine best," said Susan contentedly.
"I do too," responded Letty.
And, thoroughly satisfied, they set off hand in hand on a tour of the
room.
The handkerchief-and-apron table they passed by with scarcely a glance.
That booth might be interesting to grown people, but they didn't intend
to spend any of their money upon such useful, everyday articles.
The fancy table came next in their wanderings, and Susan and Letty,
though admiring the embroidered sofa cushions, the lace table-covers,
and the satin workbags, knew that they could never afford such
splendors.
"They must cost a hundred dollars," said Letty, who, since it was her
church and therefore her Fair, so to speak, felt that she must supply
Susan with information.
"Maybe we can find a little present here for your mother and for
Grandmother," said the country mouse to the city mouse in a low voice.
The city mouse nodded in reply and stood on tiptoe for a better view. It
had been decided before leaving home that a present should be bought for
Mrs. Spargo and one for Mrs. Whiting.
"There seem to be little things down at this end," announced Letty.
"Come on. I'm going to ask."
And, catching the eye of one of the ladies in charge, she piped up:
"Please, have you any presents here for about ten cents? We want one for
my mother and one for Susan's grandmother."
"Ten cents?" said the lady, shaking her head. "I'm afraid not. But let
me look about and see."
Presently she returned with a handful of articles which she placed
before her small customers.
"I've nothing for ten cents," said she kindly. "But here are several
articles for twenty-five and thirty and fifty cents."
"Oh, Letty, I want that for Grandmother," said Susan, forgetting both
her shyness and her manners as she pointed a forefinger at an object
which she felt sure would delight Grandmother beyond words.
It was a pale-blue stocking-darner with a little girl painted on one
side and a little boy on the other, and Susan knew in her heart that she
would never be happy again unless she could carry it home to-morrow and
place it in Grandmother's hands.
"That is twenty-five cents," said the lady, and she waited patiently
while Susan and Letty put their heads together and consulted whether
they ought to spend so large a sum.
At length Letty decided it.
"We will," said she recklessly.
So the stocking-darner was wrapped and tied and handed over to Susan,
who, without a single qualm, watched Letty take the precious quarter
from its resting-place in the green pocketbook and hand it across the
counter. It was money well spent, she thought.
"Now we must buy something for my mother," said Letty. "How do you like
this, Susan?"
It was a long purple box covered with bunches of violets and scrolls of
gilt. In it were three cakes of strongly scented violet soap.
"I like it," said Susan, sniffing vigorously. "The box is pretty, too.
Maybe your mother will give it to you when it is empty."
"I will take this, please," said Letty, with the air of an experienced
shopper.
And so easy and so delightful is it to form the habit of spending money
that Letty and Susan didn't even blink when they heard the price,
"thirty cents."
They moved on, laden with their bundles, their eyes glancing hither and
thither as they missed nothing of the gay scene about them. The Fair was
now at its height. Every one was either buying or selling or walking
about, laughing and talking, and all displaying their purchases in such
a holiday mood, that Susan, at least, felt that she had never been in
such a festive scene before.
They had halted near the despised apron table when, glancing up, Susan
spied above her head a doll made of Turkish toweling.
"Letty," said she, pulling at her friend's dress, "can't we buy that
doll for Johnny? I know he would like it, and his old Lolly has a hole
in her back."
So Letty, as spokesman and guardian of the pocketbook, bought and paid
for the soft little dolly which fortunately proved to cost only ten
cents.
Near the apron table was a half-open door which led into the church
kitchen. In the kitchen stood the high freezers that supplied the
popular ice-cream table, and, busily washing dishes with her back turned
to the door, stood hard-working Swedish Mrs. Jansen, who was glad of the
money that the church cleaning and any odd jobs might bring to her.
Her little girl Emmy, no older than Letty and Susan, stood at her elbow,
ready to act as errand girl. And just at the moment that Susan and Letty
caught sight of her, Emmy was in disgrace, for her mother turned angrily
upon her and with her hard fingers snipped the sides of her flaxen head.
Then she resumed her dish-washing, and Emmy slunk away to the door,
where she stood rubbing her sharp little knuckles in her eyes and
peeping out at the gay scene in which she had no part.
"Did you see that?" asked Letty indignantly. "Wasn't that the meanest?"
"Wasn't it?" answered Susan, her eyes round with sympathy. "Let's buy
her a present."
Present-buying, if Susan had stopped to think, seemed to be somewhat
like running downhill--not so easy at the beginning, but, once started,
the simplest thing in the world.
And Letty was of one mind with her.
"Ice-cream," she decided. "And we will watch her eat it."
Glowing with patronage and generosity, and feeling as important as if
they were treating a whole orphan asylum, Letty and Susan led the
astonished Emmy across the room to the ice-cream table.
"The best ice-cream that you have for ten cents," ordered Letty largely.
And in a few moments they had the pleasure of seeing Emmy devour, in
luscious mouthfuls, a large saucer of the pink-and-white frozen sweet.
"When are we going to have ours?" asked Susan, who began to think it
would be fully as pleasant to sit down and eat ice-cream herself as to
stand with hands full of bundles and watch some one else enjoying the
treat.
"Right now," returned Letty, with an air of authority.
She opened the pocketbook as she spoke, but after a glance inside she
turned a dismal countenance upon her friend.
"We've spent it," she faltered. "We've spent it all but four cents."
And she held the pocketbook, now woefully empty, so that Susan might see
the sad truth for herself.
Susan stared blankly from the pocketbook into Letty's face.
"Won't we have any ice-cream at all, then?" she asked piteously.
Resourceful Letty turned and led the way down the room.
"We will just ask mother for some money," said she airily.
But alas for their plans! The Blackbird Pie was so popular, and both
Mrs. Spargo and Miss Lamb were so occupied, that they did not even see
Susan and Letty, who tried in vain to gain their attention.
They wandered back to watch Emmy finishing her ice-cream, quite innocent
of the fact that her benefactors' feeling toward her had undergone a
change.
"Greedy thing," said Letty spitefully. "See how she gobbles."
"She's spilling it," murmured Susan. "Look at her. Even Johnny wouldn't
do that."
"Look, look!" gasped Letty. "Did you ever?"
For poor Emmy, to whom ice-cream was a rare treat, had lifted her saucer
in both hands and was polishing it off with her little pink tongue, for
all the world like a pussy-cat.
"Come along," said Letty impatiently. "We can buy some candy, anyway,
with our four cents."
At the candy table another disappointment awaited them. They looked
scornfully at the two squares of fudge which was all their four cents
would buy for them.
"I never knew anything like it," scolded Letty, with her mouth full.
"You can do a great deal better round the corner from home. It's only a
penny a square and much nicer than this."
"Good-evening, young ladies," said a voice over their heads, "I hope you
are enjoying the Fair to-night."
The little girls looked up into the face of the new minister, Dr.
Steele, and Susan hastily licked off her finger-tips so that she might
shake hands politely, while Letty choked on a large crumb of fudge and
burst into a spasm of coughing.
"I hope you are both enjoying the evening," repeated Dr. Steele, pulling
out his handkerchief and offering it to Letty, whose eyes were streaming
with tears and who had left her handkerchief in her coat pocket. He and
Letty were old acquaintances, but it was Susan who answered his
question, since Letty was unable to speak.
"We did have a good time," said Susan frankly, "until we spent all our
money. But now we aren't having a good time, for our money is all gone
and we haven't had a bit of ice-cream; not a bit."
"I'll tell you what it is," burst out Letty, who had recovered her
voice. "I think everybody charged us too much for everything, and that
is why we haven't any money left."
Dr. Steele's eyes twinkled.
"I have heard that complaint before about church fairs," said he.
"Suppose you show me what you bought, and I will tell you whether I
think you have been overcharged."
So Susan and Letty spread their purchases out upon a bench, and Dr.
Steele sat down to look them over.
"The pencil box and the pocketbook were five cents apiece," began Letty.
"But they are all right because Mother sold them to us. Then Susan
bought a stocking-darner for her grandmother. Show it to Dr. Steele,
Susan. That lady in a blue silk dress made her pay a quarter for it, and
I think she asked too much. And she made me pay thirty cents for this
present for my mother. I think she ought to give us some of the money
back." And Letty shook her head wrathfully at the broad back of a
placid, fair-haired lady who stood behind the fancy table.
Dr. Steele glanced at the lady and smothered a laugh. It was his own
wife, Mrs. Steele, whom Letty had not recognized without a hat.
Dr. Steele admired both presents and looked at the price tags still tied
to them.
"No," said he at last. "They are marked twenty-five and thirty cents. I
don't think you were overcharged here. I think you have good value for
your money. And you spent ten cents on a doll for the baby, and ten
cents to treat a little girl to ice-cream, and four cents on candy for
yourselves. No," repeated Dr. Steele soberly, shaking his head, "I think
you have proved yourselves excellent shoppers, and that you have spent
your money to very good effect. And I now invite both you young ladies
to be my guests at the ice-cream table."
Dr. Steele rose, and escorted Susan and Letty across the room. He sat
down between them, and, though he was able to eat only one plate of
ice-cream while they easily devoured two apiece, he seemed to enjoy the
treat quite as well as they.
When they had finished, there stood Annie in the doorway, waiting to
take them home. Mrs. Spargo would stay until the Fair closed, and that
would be too late for the little girls to be out of bed.
"Good-night," said Dr. Steele, shaking hands. "And remember what I told
you. That you are excellent shoppers, and that you have good value for
your money, very good value, indeed."